WASHINGTON -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a possible Republican presidential candidate, is easily re-elected in one of the key races in the United States' off-year elections. Republicans narrowly lose the governor's seat in Virginia, while New Yorkers elect a liberal Democrat to succeed billionaire Michael Bloomberg as mayor. AP Photos.

NYC MAYOR'S RACE

NEW YORK -- Bill de Blasio was elected New York City's first Democratic mayor in two decades Tuesday, running on an unabashedly liberal, tax-the-rich platform that contrasted sharply with billionaire Michael Bloomberg's record during 12 years in office. By Jonathan Lemire. AP Photos.

ELECTION-ANALYSIS

WASHINGTON -- Electability and pragmatism won. Ideology and purity lost. In Democratic-leaning New Jersey, voters gave Republican Chris Christie a second term and rewarded him for his bipartisan, get-it-done, inclusive pitch. In swing state Virginia, voters narrowly rejected Republican Ken Cuccinelli's uncompromising, conservative approach. An AP News Analysis by Ken Thomas. AP Photos.

CANADA-TORONTO MAYOR

TORONTO -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford acknowledges for the first time that he smoked crack "probably a year ago" when he was in a "drunken stupor," but he refused to resign despite immense pressure to step aside as leader of Canada's largest city. By Rob Gillies. AP Photos. AP Video.

HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL

WASHINGTON -- A senior official involved in implementing President Barack Obama's health care plan says the program's sign-up website continues to improve since its stumbling launch more than a month ago, but senators of both parties at a hearing Tuesday expressed deep concern about the troubled start of the overhaul. By Steven R. Hurst.

VENEZUELA-SICK HEALTH CARE

MARACAY, Venezuela -- All the symptoms of Venezuela's sick health care system beset the main public hospital in Aragua state. The 300 cancer patients in need of surgery have been sent home. Only emergency operations are performed. Patients must buy their own medicine. Experts say the lack of equipment and supplies is costing lives in this oil-rich nation where the constitution enshrines the promise of universal health care. By Frank Bajak. AP Photos.

MALL-SHOTS FIRED

PARAMUS, New Jersey -- A 20-year-old gunman intent on dying fired multiple shots inside New Jersey's largest shopping mall, trapping hundreds of customers and employees for hours as police scoured stores for the shooter, who was found dead of a self-inflicted wound, authorities say. There were no other injuries. By Samantha Henry. AP Photos. AP Video.

RIO-CONFERENCE OFF

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Just seven months ahead of Brazil's World Cup, a major football-related conference in Rio de Janeiro is called off for what organizers say is "ongoing civil unrest," a claim denied by the state government. By Stephen Wade.

GAY MARRIAGE-ILLINOIS

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois -- A historic vote in the Illinois House positions President Barack Obama's home state to become the largest in the Midwest to legalize gay marriage, following months of arduous lobbying efforts by both sides. By Sophia Tareen and Kerry Lester.

GAY RIGHTS-SENATE

WASHINGTON -- Proponents of a bill that would outlaw discrimination against gays in the workplace argued on Tuesday that the measure is rooted in fundamental fairness for all Americans. By Donna Cassata.

MEXICO-VIOLENCE

LA RUANA, Mexico -- Two leaders of the main vigilante groups in western Michoacan state say they are pulling back from confronting the Knights Templar drug cartel because the Mexican government has promised to oust traffickers from the area. By Katherine Corcoran. AP Photos.

CYBERSECURITY

STANFORD, California -- Governments and businesses spend $1 trillion a year for global cybersecurity, but unlike wartime casualties or oil spills, there's no clear idea what the total losses are because few will admit they've been compromised. Cybersecurity leaders from more than 40 countries are gathering at Stanford University this week to consider tackling that information gap by creating a single, trusted entity that would keep track of how much hackers steal. By National Writer Martha Mendoza.

PUERTO RICO-URBAN ESTUARY

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's capital surrounds a tarnished urban jewel -- a stretch of lagoons, mangroves and streams polluted by runoff, clogged with silt and overrun by nonnative pests like mongooses and caimans. Hoping it's not too late, the government, volunteers and environmental groups are working to restore the wetlands as part of a broader campaign to make gritty San Juan more attractive. By Danica Coto. AP Photos.

US-HAGEL

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is preparing top-to-bottom changes, including a push to limit the growth of military pay, as it adjusts to steep budget cuts and the winding down of war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says.

UNITED STATES-NKOREA

WASHINGTON -- The chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific says he is planning for the possibility that North Korea has an intercontinental ballistic missile that can hit America although it is unclear if they really do. By Matthew Pennington.

UN-NUCLEAR WATCHDOG

UNITED NATIONS -- The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Tuesday urged North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons, Iran to resolve outstanding issues about its suspect nuclear program, and Syria to answer questions about an alleged covert nuclear reactor. By Edith M. Lederer.

VENEZUELA-HOLIDAY FOR CHAVEZ

CARACAS, Venezuela -- The late Hugo Chavez is being honored with a public holiday in Venezuela, though not everyone is celebrating because the effort to keep the socialist leader's legacy alive will coincide with elections. By Jorge Rueda. AP Photo.

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA-LAWYERS

SEATTLE -- Attorney Kurt Boehl is happy to think he's contributing to the success of Washington's grand experiment in regulating marijuana by advising his clients on how to navigate the industry's legal complexities. But there's a worry that his efforts could earn him an ethics complaint. After all, marijuana is illegal under federal law, and lawyers aren't supposed to help their clients break the law. By Gene Johnson.

CUBA-HOMESICK HIJACKER

HAVANA --Nearly 30 years after hijacking a U.S. airliner, William Potts heads home to face U.S. justice, leaving the Havana refuge where he served time for air piracy, then settled down with a Cuban woman, started a family and lived as a farmer. By Peter Orsi. AP Photo.

SUPREME COURT-MISTRESS ATTACKED

WASHINGTON -- A love triangle that ended with a woman poisoning her pregnant rival spawned a debate over chemical weapons, international relations, federalism and chocolate at the Supreme Court, with justices left trying to make sense of how a jealous wife ended up being prosecuted for violating an international chemical weapons treaty. By Jesse Washington. AP Photo.

OBIT-TROTTER

CHICAGO -- Award-winning chef Charlie Trotter, a self-taught culinary master whose eponymous Chicago restaurant elevated the city's cuisine and provided a training ground for some of the nation's other best chefs, has died at the age of 54. By Caryn Rousseau. AP Photos.

JFK-THE ZAPRUDER FILM

If anything of consequence occurs in this era of smartphones and multi-G wireless networks, a horde of "citizen journalists" will doubtless be on hand to capture and broadcast the sights and sounds. But of hundreds of witnesses in Dallas's Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963, only a handful managed to record the biggest news story of a generation: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. And of the documents they produced, only one stands out: the Zapruder film. By National Writer Allen G. Breed. AP Photos.

BUSINESS:

TWITTER-IPO-SHOULD YOU INVEST

NEW YORK -- It can help overthrow dictators, but can it make money? For all its power and reach, Twitter gushes losses -- $65 million in the third quarter, nearly triple the level from a year ago. Worse, the paperwork it filed for its first public stock sale doesn't lay out how it can sell enough ads on its service to stanch the red ink and sustain profits. Is Twitter a good investment? By Bernard Condon. AP Photo..

With: TWITTER-IPO-HOW IPOs WORK.

WALL STREET

FINANCIAL OVERHAUL-SPECULATION

WASHINGTON -- Trading in commodities futures would be capped under a federal rule proposed Tuesday, an effort to clamp down on speculative trades that can drive up food and gas prices. By Business Writer Marcy Gordon.

mated $316 that it cost Apple to make the third-generation iPad introduced last year. By Technology Writer Michael Liedtke.

GOOGLE-HOW-TO SHOP

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google has opened a how-to shop that sells expert advice on everything from cosmetics to the cosmos in live video sessions streamed on computers and smartphones. By Technology Writer Michael Liedtke.

CALGARY, Alberta -- Canadian natural gas giant Encana Corp. says it will cut its workforce by 20 percent, slash its dividend, close its office in Plano, Texas, and spin off a large portion of its Alberta assets into a new public company.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC-CMA AWARDS

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- They're not letting the cowboy quietly ride away into the sunset in Music City. Whether he likes it or not, the usually reclusive George Strait is the center of attention in town this week. Strait is up for top honor entertainer of the year Wednesday night at the Country Music Association Awards. By Music Writer Chris Talbott. AP Photos.

TV-OVATION

LOS ANGELES -- James Franco has discovered Ovation. So have Jon Hamm and Vogue's Anna Wintour. Now the cable channel is counting on a program lineup including those glittery names, along with unexpected artists, to convince viewers that arts programming can be expansive and engaging. Or, as executive Robert Weiss puts it, Ovation isn't "my parents' arts network." By Television Writer Lynn Elber. AP Photo.

MUSLIM MS MARVEL

Marvel Comics is bringing Ms. Marvel back as a 16-year-old daughter of Pakistani immigrants living in Jersey City named Kamala Khan. The character -- among the first to be a series protagonist who is both a woman and Muslim -- is part of Marvel Entertainment's efforts to reflect a growing diversity among its readers while keeping ahold of the contemporary relevance that have underlined its foundation since the creation of Spider-Man and the X-Men in the early 1960s. By Matt More. AP Photos.

PEOPLE-JACKSONS

NEW YORK -- Motown founder Berry Gordy recalls that when he first signed The Jackson 5, he sent them to live in a house in California -- and the rowdy kids ended up getting kicked out and had to move in with him. Joked Gordy: "Be careful what you wish for." On Monday, Marlon Jackson thanked Gordy for "letting us come to your house and tear it up," as well as for putting them on the path to a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career in a tribute to Gordy at the Ebony Power 100 gala. By Entertainment Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody. AP Photos.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER

LAS VEGAS -- A 23-year-old poker professional from Michigan wins the World Series of Poker main event, lasting roughly 3 1/2 hours in a dramatic card session to push past his last opponent for the $8.4 million title. By Hannah Dreier. AP Photos.

FEATURES:

TRAVEL-TRIP-HEARST CASTLE

SAN SIMEON, California -- The coastline that parallels Route 1 in central California is so breathtaking that you might be forgiven for missing the zebras on the opposite side of the road. And that huge chateau perched far off on the hillside? Almost unnoticeable at highway speeds. Both belong to the legacy of larger-than-life newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who chose this surprisingly unobtrusive spot along the Pacific Coast Highway to build his 165-room estate. By Kathy Matheson. AP Photos.